A major league player has come close to hitting for the home run cycle many times. On April 2, 1997, Tino Martinez, first baseman of the New York Yankees, was a grand slam away from accomplishing this feat in a 16–2 victory over his former team, the Seattle Mariners. He hit a 3-run home run in the 1st inning, a 2-run home run in the 3rd and a solo shot in the 5th; all off starting pitcher Scott Sanders. He would get four more plate appearances that night, three of which came with the bases loaded. He grounded out with the bases loaded in the 6th and singled with a man on in the 8th. In the 9th inning, he would come to bat twice with the bases loaded where he first walked and later struck out to end the inning.[15] On April 26, 2005 Alex Rodriguez of the New York Yankees hit 3 home runs off Los Angeles Angels pitcher Bartolo Colón.[16] Rodriguez hit a 3-run home run, 2-run home run, and a grand slam in the first, third, and fourth innings, respectively. He later, in the bottom of the eighth inning, just missed a solo home run, lining out to Jeff DaVanon in deep center field.[17] On May 16, 2008 Jayson Werth of the Philadelphia Phillies hit 3 home runs off Toronto Blue Jays pitchers David Purcey and Jesse Litsch. Werth hit a 3-run home run, a grand slam, and a solo home run in the second, third, and fifth innings, respectively.[18] On June 26, 2009, Andre Ethier of Los Angeles Dodgers also came close to hitting for the home run cycle when he hit a three-run home run off Jason Vargas in the second, a two-run home run off Roy Corcoran in the sixth, and a solo home run off Miguel Batista in the eighth inning in a Dodger home game against Seattle Mariners.[19]
On June 27, 2008, the New York Mets and New York Yankees combined hit for the home-run cycle in the first game of a day-night doubleheader. For the Mets, Carlos Beltran hit a two-run home run in the second and Carlos Delgado hit a grand slam in the sixth and three-run home run in the eighth while Alex Rodriguez hit a solo home run in the sixth for the Yankees.
On July 7, 2009, Chicago White Sox first baseman Paul Konerko came within a three-run home run of hitting the home run cycle. He hit a solo home run in the second inning off Cleveland Indians pitcher Jeremy Sowers, a grand slam in the sixth inning off reliever Chris Perez, and a two-run home run in the seventh inning off reliever Winston Abreu.[20]
On August 1, 2009, Andrew McCutchen, center fielder of the Pittsburgh Pirates, hit a solo home run in the first inning, a two run home run in the fourth inning, and a three run home run in the sixth inning of a game against the Washington Nationals in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He had one final at bat in the game. Had he hit a grand slam in his final at bat, McCutchen would have been the only major league player in history to hit for the natural home run cycle — a solo home run first, a two run home run second, a three run home run third and a grand slam fourth.
On September 17, 2010, Shin-Soo Choo, right fielder for the Cleveland Indians, hit three home runs in an away game against the Kansas City Royals. Choo hit a 2-run homer 420 ft to right in the top of the 4th inning. In Choo's next at bat, in the top of the 6th, he hit a towering grand slam to deep center. In the top of the 8th Choo hit a 405 ft solo homer over the right field wall. In the top of the 9th, the Indians had two men on at 1st and 2nd with Choo waiting on deck, when Asdrúbal Cabrera grounded out to first to end the inning. With the Indians leading 11–4, the Royals went out 1–2–3 to end the game.[21]
On June 27, 2012, the New York Mets hit a home run cycle against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. Daniel Murphy hit a two run home run in the fourth inning off of Jeff Samardzija, Ike Davis hit a three run home run in the sixth inning off of Samardzija, Daniel Murphy hit a solo home run in the fifth, his second of the game, off of Casey Coleman, and Scott Hairston hit a grand slam in the sixth inning off of Coleman to cap a 17–1 win over the Cubs. [22]
Graph depicting the yearly number of home runs per MLB game (blue line)
History of the home run
In the early days of the game, when the ball was less lively and the ballparks generally had very large outfields, most home runs were of the inside-the-park variety. The first home run ever hit in the National League was by Ross Barnes of the Chicago White Stockings (now known as the Chicago Cubs), in 1876. The home "run" was literally descriptive. Home runs over the fence were rare, and only in ballparks where a fence was fairly close. Hitters were discouraged from trying to hit home runs, with the conventional wisdom being that if they tried to do so they would simply fly out. This was a serious concern in the 19th century, because in baseball's early days a ball caught after one bounce was still an out. The emphasis was on place-hitting and what is now called "manufacturing runs" or "small ball".
The home run's place in baseball changed dramatically when the live-ball era began after World War I. First, the materials and manufacturing processes improved significantly, making the now-mass-produced, cork-centered ball somewhat more lively. Batters such as Babe Ruth and Rogers Hornsby took full advantage of rules changes that were instituted during the 1920s, particularly prohibition of the spitball, and the requirement that balls be replaced when worn or dirty. These changes resulted in the baseball being easier to see and hit, and easier to hit out of park. Meanwhile, as the game's popularity boomed, more outfield seating was built, shrinking the size of the outfield and increasing the chances of a long fly ball resulting in a home run. The teams with the sluggers, typified by the New York Yankees, became the championship teams, and other teams had to change their focus from the "inside game" to the "power game" in order to keep up.
Prior to 1931, a ball that bounced over an outfield fence during a major league game was considered a home run. The rule was changed to require the ball to clear the fence on the fly, and balls that reached the seats on a bounce became ground rule doubles in most parks. A carryover of the old rule is that if a player deflects a ball over the outfield fence without it touching the ground, it is a home run.
The Polo Grounds left field foul line with guide rope, as seen from upper deck, 1917
Also, until approximately that time, the ball had to not only go over the fence in fair territory, but to land in the bleachers in fair territory or to still be visibly fair when disappearing behind a wall. The rule stipulated "fair when last seen" by the umpires. Photos from that era in ballparks, such as the Polo Grounds and Yankee Stadium, show ropes strung from the foul poles to the back of the bleachers, or a second "foul pole" at the back of the bleachers, in a straight line with the foul line, as a visual aid for the umpire. Ballparks still use a visual aid much like the ropes; a net or screen attached to the foul poles on the fair side has replaced ropes. As with American football, where a touchdown once required a literal "touch down" of the ball in the end zone but now only requires the "breaking of the [vertical] plane" of the goal line, in baseball the ball need only "break the plane" of the fence in fair territory (unless the ball is caught by a player who is in play, in which case the batter is called out).
Babe Ruth's 60th home run in 1927 was somewhat controversial, because it landed barely in fair territory in the stands down the right field line. Ruth lost a number of home runs in his career due to the when-last-seen rule. Bill Jenkinson, in The Year Babe Ruth Hit 104 Home Runs, estimates that Ruth lost at least 50 and as many as 78 in his career due to this rule.
Further, the rules once stipulated that an over-the-fence home run in a sudden-victory situation would only count for as many bases as was necessary to "force" the winning run home. For example, if a team trailed by two runs with the bases loaded, and the batter hit a fair ball over the fence, it only counted as a triple, because the runner immediately ahead of him had technically already scored the game-winning run. That rule was changed in the 1920s as home runs became increasingly frequent and popular. Babe Ruth's career total of 714 would have been one higher had that rule not been in effect in the early part of his career.
Major League Baseball keeps running totals of all-time home runs by team, including teams no longer active (prior to 1900) as well as by individual players. Gary Sheffield hit the 250,000th home run in MLB history with a grand slam on September 8, 2008.[23] Sheffield had hit MLB's 249,999th home run against Gio Gonzalez in his previous at-bat.
The all-time, verified professional baseball record for career home runs for one player, excluding the U. S. Negro Leagues during the era of segregation, is held by Sadaharu Oh. Oh spent his entire career playing for the Yomiuri Giants in Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball, later managing the Giants, the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks and the 2006 World Baseball Classic Japanese team. Oh holds the all-time home run world record, having hit 868 home runs in his career.
In Major League Baseball, the career record is 762, held by Barry Bonds, who broke Hank Aaron's record on August 7, 2007, when he hit his 756th home run at AT&T Park off pitcher Mike Bacsik.[24] Only seven other major league players have hit as many as 600: Hank Aaron (755), Babe Ruth (714), Willie Mays (660), Ken Griffey, Jr. (630), Sammy Sosa (609),[24] as well as active players Jim Thome (612) and Alex Rodriguez (647).[24]
The single season record is 73, set by Barry Bonds in 2001.[24] Other notable single season records were achieved by Babe Ruth who hit 60 in 1927, Roger Maris, with 61 home runs in 1961, and Mark McGwire, who hit 70 in 1998.[24]
Negro League slugger Josh Gibson's Baseball Hall of Fame plaque says he hit "almost 800" home runs in his career. The Guinness Book of World Records lists Gibson's lifetime home run total at 800. Ken Burns' award-winning series, Baseball, states that his actual total may have been as high as 950. Gibson's true total is not known, in part due to inconsistent record keeping in the Negro Leagues. The 1993 edition of the MacMillan Baseball Encyclopedia attempted to compile a set of Negro League records, and subsequent work has expanded on that effort. Those records demonstrate that Gibson and Ruth were of comparable power. The 1993 book had Gibson hitting 146 home runs in the 501 "official" Negro League games they were able to account for in his 17-year career, about 1 homer every 3.4 games. Babe Ruth, in 22 seasons (several of them in the dead-ball era), hit 714 in 2503 games, or 1 homer every 3.5 games. The large gap in the numbers for Gibson reflect the fact that Negro League clubs played relatively far fewer league games and many more "barnstorming" or exhibition games during the course of a season, than did the major league clubs of that era.
Other legendary home run hitters include Jimmie Foxx, Mel Ott, Ted Williams, Mickey Mantle (who on September 10, 1960, mythically hit "the longest home run ever" at an estimated distance of 643 feet (196 m), although this was measured after the ball stopped rolling[25]), Reggie Jackson, Harmon Killebrew, Ernie Banks, Mike Schmidt, Dave Kingman, Sammy Sosa[24] (who hit 60 or more home runs in a season 3 times), Ken Griffey, Jr. and Eddie Mathews. The longest verifiable home run distance is about 575 feet (175 m), by Babe Ruth, to straightaway center field at Tiger Stadium (then called Navin Field and prior to the double-deck), which landed nearly across the intersection of Trumbull and Cherry.
The location of where Hank Aaron's record 755th home run landed has been monumented in Milwaukee.[26] The hallowed spot sits outside Miller Park, where the Milwaukee Brewers currently play. Similarly, the point where Aaron's 715th homer landed, upon breaking Ruth's career record in 1974, is marked in the Turner Field parking lot. A red-painted seat in Fenway Park marks the landing place of the 502-ft home run Ted Williams hit in 1946, the longest measured homer in Fenway's history; a red stadium seat mounted on the wall of the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota, marks the landing spot of Harmon Killebrew's record 520-foot shot in old Metropolitan Stadium.
Today, home cinema implies a real "cinema experience" and therefore a higher quality set of components than an average television with only built-in speakers provides. A typical home theater includes the following parts:
Video and Audio Input Devices: One or more video/audio sources. High quality movie media format such as example Blu-ray Disc are normally preferred, though they often also include a DVD, VHS,Or LaserDisc player and/or video game console systems. Quite a few home theaters today include a HTPC (Home Theater PC) with a media center software application to act as the main library for video and music content using a 10-foot user interface and remote control.
Audio Processing Devices: Input devices are processed by either a standalone AV receiver or a Preamplifier and Sound Processor for complex surround sound formats such as Dolby Pro-Logic/and or Pro-logic II, X, and Z, Dolby Digital, DTS, Dolby Digital EX, DTS-ES, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio. The user selects the input at this point before it is forwarded to the output.
Audio Output: Systems consist of at least 2 speakers, however most common today is 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound system, but it is possible to have up to 11 speakers with additional subwoofers.
Video Output: A large-screen display either an SDTV, HDTV, or 3D TV. Options include Liquid crystal display television (LCD), plasma TV, OLED, SXRD, DLP, Laser TV, rear-projection TV, a traditional CRT TV,(only available second-hand at this point) or video projector and projection screen.
Atmosphere: Comfortable seating and organization to improve the cinema feel. Higher-end home theaters commonly also have sound insulation to prevent noise from escaping the room, and a specialized wall treatment to balance the sound within the room.
On June 27, 2008, the New York Mets and New York Yankees combined hit for the home-run cycle in the first game of a day-night doubleheader. For the Mets, Carlos Beltran hit a two-run home run in the second and Carlos Delgado hit a grand slam in the sixth and three-run home run in the eighth while Alex Rodriguez hit a solo home run in the sixth for the Yankees.
On July 7, 2009, Chicago White Sox first baseman Paul Konerko came within a three-run home run of hitting the home run cycle. He hit a solo home run in the second inning off Cleveland Indians pitcher Jeremy Sowers, a grand slam in the sixth inning off reliever Chris Perez, and a two-run home run in the seventh inning off reliever Winston Abreu.[20]
On August 1, 2009, Andrew McCutchen, center fielder of the Pittsburgh Pirates, hit a solo home run in the first inning, a two run home run in the fourth inning, and a three run home run in the sixth inning of a game against the Washington Nationals in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He had one final at bat in the game. Had he hit a grand slam in his final at bat, McCutchen would have been the only major league player in history to hit for the natural home run cycle — a solo home run first, a two run home run second, a three run home run third and a grand slam fourth.
On September 17, 2010, Shin-Soo Choo, right fielder for the Cleveland Indians, hit three home runs in an away game against the Kansas City Royals. Choo hit a 2-run homer 420 ft to right in the top of the 4th inning. In Choo's next at bat, in the top of the 6th, he hit a towering grand slam to deep center. In the top of the 8th Choo hit a 405 ft solo homer over the right field wall. In the top of the 9th, the Indians had two men on at 1st and 2nd with Choo waiting on deck, when Asdrúbal Cabrera grounded out to first to end the inning. With the Indians leading 11–4, the Royals went out 1–2–3 to end the game.[21]
On June 27, 2012, the New York Mets hit a home run cycle against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. Daniel Murphy hit a two run home run in the fourth inning off of Jeff Samardzija, Ike Davis hit a three run home run in the sixth inning off of Samardzija, Daniel Murphy hit a solo home run in the fifth, his second of the game, off of Casey Coleman, and Scott Hairston hit a grand slam in the sixth inning off of Coleman to cap a 17–1 win over the Cubs. [22]
Graph depicting the yearly number of home runs per MLB game (blue line)
History of the home run
In the early days of the game, when the ball was less lively and the ballparks generally had very large outfields, most home runs were of the inside-the-park variety. The first home run ever hit in the National League was by Ross Barnes of the Chicago White Stockings (now known as the Chicago Cubs), in 1876. The home "run" was literally descriptive. Home runs over the fence were rare, and only in ballparks where a fence was fairly close. Hitters were discouraged from trying to hit home runs, with the conventional wisdom being that if they tried to do so they would simply fly out. This was a serious concern in the 19th century, because in baseball's early days a ball caught after one bounce was still an out. The emphasis was on place-hitting and what is now called "manufacturing runs" or "small ball".
The home run's place in baseball changed dramatically when the live-ball era began after World War I. First, the materials and manufacturing processes improved significantly, making the now-mass-produced, cork-centered ball somewhat more lively. Batters such as Babe Ruth and Rogers Hornsby took full advantage of rules changes that were instituted during the 1920s, particularly prohibition of the spitball, and the requirement that balls be replaced when worn or dirty. These changes resulted in the baseball being easier to see and hit, and easier to hit out of park. Meanwhile, as the game's popularity boomed, more outfield seating was built, shrinking the size of the outfield and increasing the chances of a long fly ball resulting in a home run. The teams with the sluggers, typified by the New York Yankees, became the championship teams, and other teams had to change their focus from the "inside game" to the "power game" in order to keep up.
Prior to 1931, a ball that bounced over an outfield fence during a major league game was considered a home run. The rule was changed to require the ball to clear the fence on the fly, and balls that reached the seats on a bounce became ground rule doubles in most parks. A carryover of the old rule is that if a player deflects a ball over the outfield fence without it touching the ground, it is a home run.
The Polo Grounds left field foul line with guide rope, as seen from upper deck, 1917
Also, until approximately that time, the ball had to not only go over the fence in fair territory, but to land in the bleachers in fair territory or to still be visibly fair when disappearing behind a wall. The rule stipulated "fair when last seen" by the umpires. Photos from that era in ballparks, such as the Polo Grounds and Yankee Stadium, show ropes strung from the foul poles to the back of the bleachers, or a second "foul pole" at the back of the bleachers, in a straight line with the foul line, as a visual aid for the umpire. Ballparks still use a visual aid much like the ropes; a net or screen attached to the foul poles on the fair side has replaced ropes. As with American football, where a touchdown once required a literal "touch down" of the ball in the end zone but now only requires the "breaking of the [vertical] plane" of the goal line, in baseball the ball need only "break the plane" of the fence in fair territory (unless the ball is caught by a player who is in play, in which case the batter is called out).
Babe Ruth's 60th home run in 1927 was somewhat controversial, because it landed barely in fair territory in the stands down the right field line. Ruth lost a number of home runs in his career due to the when-last-seen rule. Bill Jenkinson, in The Year Babe Ruth Hit 104 Home Runs, estimates that Ruth lost at least 50 and as many as 78 in his career due to this rule.
Further, the rules once stipulated that an over-the-fence home run in a sudden-victory situation would only count for as many bases as was necessary to "force" the winning run home. For example, if a team trailed by two runs with the bases loaded, and the batter hit a fair ball over the fence, it only counted as a triple, because the runner immediately ahead of him had technically already scored the game-winning run. That rule was changed in the 1920s as home runs became increasingly frequent and popular. Babe Ruth's career total of 714 would have been one higher had that rule not been in effect in the early part of his career.
Major League Baseball keeps running totals of all-time home runs by team, including teams no longer active (prior to 1900) as well as by individual players. Gary Sheffield hit the 250,000th home run in MLB history with a grand slam on September 8, 2008.[23] Sheffield had hit MLB's 249,999th home run against Gio Gonzalez in his previous at-bat.
The all-time, verified professional baseball record for career home runs for one player, excluding the U. S. Negro Leagues during the era of segregation, is held by Sadaharu Oh. Oh spent his entire career playing for the Yomiuri Giants in Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball, later managing the Giants, the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks and the 2006 World Baseball Classic Japanese team. Oh holds the all-time home run world record, having hit 868 home runs in his career.
In Major League Baseball, the career record is 762, held by Barry Bonds, who broke Hank Aaron's record on August 7, 2007, when he hit his 756th home run at AT&T Park off pitcher Mike Bacsik.[24] Only seven other major league players have hit as many as 600: Hank Aaron (755), Babe Ruth (714), Willie Mays (660), Ken Griffey, Jr. (630), Sammy Sosa (609),[24] as well as active players Jim Thome (612) and Alex Rodriguez (647).[24]
The single season record is 73, set by Barry Bonds in 2001.[24] Other notable single season records were achieved by Babe Ruth who hit 60 in 1927, Roger Maris, with 61 home runs in 1961, and Mark McGwire, who hit 70 in 1998.[24]
Negro League slugger Josh Gibson's Baseball Hall of Fame plaque says he hit "almost 800" home runs in his career. The Guinness Book of World Records lists Gibson's lifetime home run total at 800. Ken Burns' award-winning series, Baseball, states that his actual total may have been as high as 950. Gibson's true total is not known, in part due to inconsistent record keeping in the Negro Leagues. The 1993 edition of the MacMillan Baseball Encyclopedia attempted to compile a set of Negro League records, and subsequent work has expanded on that effort. Those records demonstrate that Gibson and Ruth were of comparable power. The 1993 book had Gibson hitting 146 home runs in the 501 "official" Negro League games they were able to account for in his 17-year career, about 1 homer every 3.4 games. Babe Ruth, in 22 seasons (several of them in the dead-ball era), hit 714 in 2503 games, or 1 homer every 3.5 games. The large gap in the numbers for Gibson reflect the fact that Negro League clubs played relatively far fewer league games and many more "barnstorming" or exhibition games during the course of a season, than did the major league clubs of that era.
Other legendary home run hitters include Jimmie Foxx, Mel Ott, Ted Williams, Mickey Mantle (who on September 10, 1960, mythically hit "the longest home run ever" at an estimated distance of 643 feet (196 m), although this was measured after the ball stopped rolling[25]), Reggie Jackson, Harmon Killebrew, Ernie Banks, Mike Schmidt, Dave Kingman, Sammy Sosa[24] (who hit 60 or more home runs in a season 3 times), Ken Griffey, Jr. and Eddie Mathews. The longest verifiable home run distance is about 575 feet (175 m), by Babe Ruth, to straightaway center field at Tiger Stadium (then called Navin Field and prior to the double-deck), which landed nearly across the intersection of Trumbull and Cherry.
The location of where Hank Aaron's record 755th home run landed has been monumented in Milwaukee.[26] The hallowed spot sits outside Miller Park, where the Milwaukee Brewers currently play. Similarly, the point where Aaron's 715th homer landed, upon breaking Ruth's career record in 1974, is marked in the Turner Field parking lot. A red-painted seat in Fenway Park marks the landing place of the 502-ft home run Ted Williams hit in 1946, the longest measured homer in Fenway's history; a red stadium seat mounted on the wall of the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota, marks the landing spot of Harmon Killebrew's record 520-foot shot in old Metropolitan Stadium.
Today, home cinema implies a real "cinema experience" and therefore a higher quality set of components than an average television with only built-in speakers provides. A typical home theater includes the following parts:
Video and Audio Input Devices: One or more video/audio sources. High quality movie media format such as example Blu-ray Disc are normally preferred, though they often also include a DVD, VHS,Or LaserDisc player and/or video game console systems. Quite a few home theaters today include a HTPC (Home Theater PC) with a media center software application to act as the main library for video and music content using a 10-foot user interface and remote control.
Audio Processing Devices: Input devices are processed by either a standalone AV receiver or a Preamplifier and Sound Processor for complex surround sound formats such as Dolby Pro-Logic/and or Pro-logic II, X, and Z, Dolby Digital, DTS, Dolby Digital EX, DTS-ES, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio. The user selects the input at this point before it is forwarded to the output.
Audio Output: Systems consist of at least 2 speakers, however most common today is 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound system, but it is possible to have up to 11 speakers with additional subwoofers.
Video Output: A large-screen display either an SDTV, HDTV, or 3D TV. Options include Liquid crystal display television (LCD), plasma TV, OLED, SXRD, DLP, Laser TV, rear-projection TV, a traditional CRT TV,(only available second-hand at this point) or video projector and projection screen.
Atmosphere: Comfortable seating and organization to improve the cinema feel. Higher-end home theaters commonly also have sound insulation to prevent noise from escaping the room, and a specialized wall treatment to balance the sound within the room.
